With this month being Black History Month, I wanted to use my blog this week to talk about one of my favorite artists, Maya Angelou. Maya’s works are so inspiring and powerful and I have always loved reading them. Maya fought for equal rights for women and blacks and despite living a hard life, she accomplished so much in her lifetime. She wrote her first autobiography titled, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” about her childhood and teenage years. She wrote screenplays for movies, learned modern dance with Alvin Ailey(director of the first African-American dance company), recorded two albums of music and poetry, and wrote a total of over 13 books including poetry collections and autobiographies. As you can see, Maya truly devoted her life to learning as many art forms as possible. Throughout her career, Maya received many awards and honors. She was invited to read her poem, “ On the Pulse of Morning” at Bill Clinton’s inauguration, and was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama's in 2010. She also received several Grammy awards and many other medals for her poetry. Despite passing away in 2014, her works have inspired many modern day authors and musicians, and therefore she lives on forever. Maya inspires me because she proves that you can overcome anything and that your art can inspire others. She shows that art lets your voice be heard. Most importantly, she shows that regardless of your background, you are strong and powerful. Here are some of her quotes that I find to be especially inspiring and artistic.

“Determine to live life with flair and laughter.”

“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

“If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.”

“Not everything you do is going to be a masterpiece, but you get art there and you try and sometimes it really happens. The other times you’re just stretching your soul.”